1. ISBN13: 9780446698856
2. Condition: NEW
3. Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

Editorial Review :

There are plenty of books about coping with adversity. But isn't until now, with WHO SURVIVES, that we discover the human factors that determine survival. It's a combination instruction book and security blanket that blends compelling true stories with cutting-edge science to deliver some of the most important lessons we'll ever need to learn.

The book will:
--list the most important traits necessary for survival (e.g., adaptability, tenacity, faith)
--identify the 5 types of survivors
--debunk myths (like only the strong survive), explore the frontiers of survival science (How much strain and punishment can a human body endure?), and introduce readers to counterintuitive thinking (Ever heard of posttraumatic growth?)
--provide a Survivors Tool Kit, including an online test that measures one's Survivor's Quotient

Each one of us eventually joins the club of millions who face life's inescapable tribulations and tragedies. WHO SURVIVES is the companion we need to prepare us for and guide us through the worst.

Customer Review :

Great book! I highly recommend!!

I own this audio book and am very glad I purchased it. I don't agree AT ALL with the negative reviews. The author does provide the science of survival. He visited the top experts in their fields of survival research. He even went thru some harrowing survival training himself (let's just say I wouldn't do it). He also gave some good statistics i.e. most people think if you're in a plane crash that everyone dies, when actually there is a good chance you could survive.
Great info, great stories, highly recommended to make a great addition to your library!!

Rating :

Review written for and published on www.luxuryreading.com

Biking in Foothill Ranch, California, Anne Hjelle is attacked by a mountain lion. She survives the attack. JAT Flight 364 explodes in the air over Czechoslovakia. The only survivor is Vesna Vulovic, a flight attendant, who plummets 6 miles to the ground and lives. Brian Udell is forced to eject from his plane going faster than Mach 1 at sea level. The impact breaks both his legs and severely dislocates one shoulder, rendering that arm useless. Despite having only one working limb, Udell manages to inflate a raft, climb aboard, and wait to be rescued. In the Gulf of Mexico, Tim Sears falls off of the cruise ship Celebration wearing nothing more than his boxer shorts, a t-shirt, and a sweatshirt. Without any floatation devices and without anyone coming to his rescue (the ship's crew never knew he was missing), Sears literally swims for his life over a course of 17 hours where he is finally rescued by a Maltese ship.

What all these people have in common is that they are all survivors of situations that would normally be fatal to the average person. Ben Sherwood, journalist and author, sets out to discover why some people live where others would perish in his book The Survivors Club. Sherwood takes the reader on a tour of the remarkable and the astounding while all along collecting research into the sciences of extreme first aid, faith and prayer, fear, will power, adversity, and luck. He includes countless tales of survival and death defying feats as well as advice from rescue workers and scientists who investigate the various forms of death.

The Survivors Club is more than just a study in the art of survival; it is also a reference manual. Sherwood invites the reader to take a quiz that will provide him/her with a "survivor profile." This individual profile identifies the test taker's "survivor type" (fighter, believer, connector, thinker, or realist) and details the top three survivor tools in the test taker's arsenal. The reader is then invited to join an online community of survivors where members can share their stories and "build a private support group of friends and family."

Ben Sherwood's The Survivors Club is a must read for those who desire a long life and wish to be prepared for all eventualities in life.


Rating :

Fascinating. Inspiring. Entertaining.

The SURVIVORS CLUB is a fascinating look into the psychology and complexities of human survival. Drawing on historical examples of people who have survived a wide range of disasters, Sherwood pulls together themes and patterns which are altogether inspiring, revelatory, and fascinating.

Sherwood studies and interviews people who have survived collisions, airplane crashes, attacks, illnesses, and a host of catastrophes which threaten their lives. Some are simply remarkable stories; others are uplifting tales of faith and will; most simply mind-blowing.

So, what are the key factors for survival, for determining who makes it through and who doesn't? The answers seem as varied as the people involved. However, there are some interesting tells:

1. faith - belief in God gives hope, strength and courage. Faith is the opposite (and remedy for) fear, which is a real killer. AS deadly as starvation or disease, fear kills people. It paralyzes, saps the will to live, and eliminates hope.
2. family - having others love you and your love for them provides motivation to live: the will to carry through.
3. preparedness - those best prepared are the most likely to survive emergencies. Having at least considered what-to-do and given thought to it - rehearsal is even more effective- can be a life-saver. That is why the armed forces rehearse many life-threatening scenarios. A body and mind prepared to live is a key indicator.

There are also a myriad of other factors, determination, courage, stubbornness, intelligence, adaptability and so on. Each of us is wired differently but all of us contain some of the key elements for survival. The good news is, survival skills can be learned and improved.


Rating :

Too Much Religion

This book had promise, and has some interesting stories and statistics. But by half way through, every survival story was turning into mystical powers, and God, and Faith. In these stories, it is never questioned why God saved a military pilot, but let the navigator die. Why did God save a particular person in an airline crash or nightclub fire, but he couldn't be bothered to save the rest (let alone prevent the disaster in the first place)? I guess they were evil, or it was "His Plan". Yawn.

If you don't mind being preached at, or if your faith is so flimsy that it needs to be bolstered by a mass marketed book, then this is a good read. If you are sick of these stories, don't bother.

Rating :

Didn't learn much about survival

After seeing the great reviews here, I was excited to dig into the book. I am about 1/3 way through and I'm finding it difficult to continue. Perhaps my expectation were off course. I was expecting a book to give insight into survival skills in different situations. All I got were stories of people who had a desire to live but it was very skimpy on tactical advise. So far the most I got out of this book is where to sit in a plane to perhaps survive a crash. I hope the rest of the book gets better... if so, I will update my review

Rating :

More reviews...

1. ISBN13: 9780743269513
2. Condition: NEW
3. Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

Customer Review :

Probably the best out there on the subject

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey is an excellent motivational book for businesspeople or anyone for that matter. There is a multitude of phony, puffy, cheesy and fluffy "self-help" books out there in this department, but I feel that this book really stands out as the one to get. If you read this book and utilize the strategies in it, you WILL see an improvement in your life. Nuff Said.

Rating :

Highly recommend!

Great book, read or listen. A must read for any driven person trying to seperate himor herself from the pack, at work, school or in general.

Rating :

Great Condition/Great Book

The book was in really good condition. It's a great book. Anyone who likes to read should check it out.

Rating :

Life changing!

To put it simply, this book is life changing. Buy this book now, and become a more productive, effective person.

Rating :

A catalyst for my quest to just 'be better'

Here is an excerpt from my blog post about working on Covey's 2nd Habit. I hope it will encourage others to take the time to really think about and work through the lessons in this book. I'm not sure I am a more confident or effective person as of yet, but it feels good to 'Be Proactive' (a la Habit #1) and feel like I'm working towards making progress. -- Evonne
[...]

Begin with the End in Mind (Part 1)

I tried writing my obituary today. No, I haven't already decided to give up. It was an exercise suggested by the enduring classic, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. It's not a book about `confidence' per se. It is about being an effective and successful person. The philosophy Covey teaches to achieve this end is known as the Character Ethic. The Character Ethic attributes success to fundamental and underlying human characteristics such as integrity, honesty, courage, potential and growth. This is in contrast to the Personality Ethic which calls its followers to focus on personality traits, skills and maintaining a positive attitude among other things to be an effective person and according to Covey this latter approach been unduly popularized throughout the latter half of the 20th century. I don't know which ethic is more correct and I'm not sure that I believe there are only two ways to approach effectiveness. But I think we can all agree that feeling effective and successful are important to feeling in control and confident and I hope to explore both approaches (among many others) in this blog.

In Habit #2: Begin With The End In Mind, Covey suggests that you take a moment to think about what you would want a member of your social network, your family and a community organization that you're involved with to say about you at your funeral.

"Now think deeply," he writes, "What would you like each of these speakers to say about you and your life? What character would you like them to have seen in you? What contributions, what achievements would you want them to remember? What difference would you like to have made in their lives?"

And now here's the real clencher... "Before you read further, take a few minutes to jot down your impressions. It will greatly increase your personal understanding of Habit 2." Damn't.. sigh.. and so I was stuck jotting ideas on a napkin..

(By the way, if you're wondering what happened to Habit #1: Be proactive a.k.a. "work inside your circle of influence" and "if you think the problem is out there, that's the problem". Well, you're looking at it.)

I had heard of this eulogy/obituary exercise before and to be honest it never really resonated with me. I understand that it should highlight what you truly value and help you work backwards to prioritize your life and work towards those goals. But in addition to being, well.. morbid, I also tend to think it gives too much weight to what you want people to think about you. While beginning to ponder the questions, it put me into a manipulative mindset, asking myself how I get my friends/family/etc to say what I want them to say about me. But perhaps this says more about me and my tendencies than it says about the merits of the exercise.

Here are my napkin jottings. Please read as if there is a question mark after every statement because that was the tone of the voice dictating each line in my head. And I apologize in advance for all the cringing you are about to experience...

She was happy. (Remember, read: "She was happy?") She felt lucky.She was surrounded by people she loved and who loved her. People wanted her in their lives. One of the most interesting people I've met. Never dull. You'd never know what she was going to say. She made life interesting. She was brilliant, but almost just as notably, she was curious. People wanted to be around her. She had a way of making people feel comfortable and wanted and accepted. She wanted to understand everything. She wanted to be involved in everything. She was a mathematician, a business woman, a chef and food critic, a planner, a writer, a thinker, a philanthropist, an anthropologist, a strategist, an explorer, an adventurer, a curiosity, a language prodigy, a wonderful friend and loving mother. She had no regrets.

Okay, so I took some liberties here, but be proud of me for actually uploading my unedited scribbles. It's actually (even more) embarassing because I don't think I would've written something much different in 3rd grade.. how far I've come. Don't worry, my ego is not actually this big (and misdirected/delusional) but the exercise instructions didn't say to limit by my actual level of intellect, skills, behavioral tendencies, etc so I ran with it.

While I feel it did point out quite a few of my insecurities and to some extent some of the things I want or think I want in life, again I didn't feel like I was getting to the core of it. I actually wanted to come up with a few things I could feel proud of and live by and work towards instead of taking a 5-minute stab in the dark with my pen and a napkin. But how do I do that? Keep in mind you're asking a 26 year old what she wants in life...

So here is my plan, to be tackled this week (and diligently written about next Sunday, of course). Instead of daydreaming and musing, I am going to take a more systematic approach. Obviously from my scribbles you can tell I have no real idea what a eulogy or an obituary might sound like. And given my limited life experience I haven't had exposure to the breadth of life experiences and character qualities that can be highlighted therein. And just generally I don't know what makes for a meaningful and interesting discussion of a person's life... I've never attended a funeral and if you can believe it, the obituaries are not my `flip-to' section of the NYT. In addition, I have no idea what I could write in a mock obituary for my future self that would feel uplifting and satisfying to my current self right now.

I know I've flipped past countless examples in the obituaries section of the NYT, The Economist, The Atlantic... so I've decided to go back and actually read them. While perusing the web editions of these publications, I found troves of obituaries that I can't wait to read: David Foster Wallace, Bobby Fischer, Laurence Urdang, Yves Saint Laurent, Mary Garber, Charlton Heston. Obviously these lives were selected by these journals because the people who led them were luminaries and pioneers in their time and I don't expect to hold myself to quite as high a standard. But I think this will provide some good fodder and am very interested to learn what will stand out to me, what I will and won't want people to say about me and to eventually help me realize at least a few ideas that I want to internalize and make my own.

Will report back shortly...



Rating :

More reviews...

1. ISBN13: 9780061930935
2. Condition: NEW
3. Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

Editorial Review :

Kelly Cutrone has long been mentoring women on how to make it in one of the most competitive industries in the world. She has kicked people out of fashion shows, forced some of reality television's shiny stars to fire their friends, and built her own company-one of the most powerful PR firms in the fashion business-from the ground up. Through it all, she has refused to be anything but herself. Kelly writes in her trademark, no-bullshit style, combining personal and professional stories to share her secrets for success without selling out. Let's face it: this is a different world than the one in which our mothers grew up, and Kelly has created a real girl's guide to making it in today's world. Offering a wake-up call to women everywhere, she challenges us to stop the dogged pursuit of the -perfect life- and discover who we are and what we really want. Then she shows us how to go out there and get it. Much of our culture teaches us to muzzle our inner voice and follow the crowd; Kelly enables us to stop pretending and start truly living. With chapters on how to find your tribe (those like-minded souls who make your heart sing), how sometimes a breakdown is really a breakthrough, and how there is no such thing as perfection, Kelly also shares practical advice, such as how to create a personal brand and how sometimes you have to fake it to make it. Raw, hilarious, shocking, but always the honest truth, If You Have to Cry, Go Outside calls upon you to gather up your courage like an armful of clothes at a McQueen sample sale and follow your soul wherever it takes you. Whether you're just starting out in the world or looking to reinvent yourself, If You Have to Cry, Go Outside will be the spark you need to figure out what you have to say to the world-and how you're going to say it.

Customer Review :

A good read for Kelly fans.

Being a big fan of almost all Bravo shows, I was glad to read Kelly's book. I have tos say this about her: She is a great/smart business person and someone I can totally relate to. Her book isn't full of useless advice and simply provides a forum for her to tell her readers about her life and ups and downs. A must have purchase.

Rating :

Bold, Memorable, Off-The-Beaten-Track Business and Life Advice for Women

I have to admit that I know barely anything about fashion and had only seen Kelly Cutrone's name mentioned a few times, but I was curious to read this book because I liked the title and it seemed like it could have a promising approach to life and business. And it did!

Cutrone's tome is part memoir, part spiritual guide, part you-go-girl empowerment and part business manual, all in her straightforward, no-holds-barred style. In many ways, it's feminism as take-the-bull-by-the-horns (or take-the-city-by-the-horns), whether she's talking about organizing an art benefit against censorship, raising her daughter solo, or running her business, PR company People's Revolution.

I especially liked that Cutrone cuts through the false notion that spirituality and being a good person is somehow antithetical to success and financial reward. She marries the two and even though it sounds a bit incredible, talks about her past drug abuse and lowest, suicidal moments and how PR, along with spiritual guidance from the woman she calls her guru, The Mother, pulled her back.

It's a quick read but the pull-no-punches lessons and Cutrone's brand of being herself as well as vision for women in the workplace is a refreshing one, and it's certainly entertaining. I especially like that while there's juicy stories, Cutrone isn't trying to sell herself as a publicist or her brands or even fashion or PR as industries (if anything she somewhat warns younger readers away unless they can hack it). Instead she tells how she grew up with an inherent sense of who she was and what she was capable of and learned by doing (and by making mistakes, like serving black icing on pink desserts at an Agent Provocateur party). Her ability to own up to her mistakes and failures while still offering up rules for success is what makes this book so bold and memorable.


Rating :

Never Judge A Book By Its Cover

When I first saw Kelly Cutrone from Peoples Revolution on "The Hills", my first thought was 'this woman doesn't take anyone's crap, I want to be like that!' Last night I finished reading her book If You Have To Cry Go Outside: And Other Things Your Mother Never Told You. Let me first say that I will not gush about anything unless it resonates with me and I truly love it. I could not stop reading the book, I downloaded the e-book at 6pm and I was done by 9 pm. Kelly's story and no non-sense advice for everything from self discovery to fashion career advice was so refeshing and inspiring.
A lot of what influences women's decisions in life is based on preconceived notions of what we are "supposed" to be or pressures from parents or other people. Living a life that is not authentic to who you really are will eventually lead to a breakdown, which is what happened to Kelly and it happened to me. Kelly points out that in order to be your true self (and successful) you need to be fearless. In the book Kelly says "Because if you're the kind of person who senses there's something out there for you beyond whatever it is you're expected to do - if you want to be extra-ordinary - you will not get there by hanging around a bunch of people who tell you you're not extraordinary. Instead, you will probably become as ordinary as they expect you to be." This dear reader is quite a fantastic piece of advice and from a woman who has been there and done that. When someone with such valuable experience is giving advice, we should listen and take note.
I highly recommend this book to young women, but young or not so young, you will feel inspired. In life we need the truth, even it is not pretty, it is necessary. Kelly tells it like it is. ~ Melanie @ [..]

Rating :

If you have to cry go outside!!!!!

what can you say Kelly Cutrone is the most outspoken but down to earth person. her book was amazing! its not for the faint of heart. anyone can read it and get insight not just on the industry but finding yourself!(:

Rating :

Love Kelly, Loved Her Book

This book was great from start to finish. Charming, funny, incredibly insightful--I recommend it for anyone with an interest in fashion, PR, Kelly herself and People's Revolution, or even just going after your dreams and goals, be them career oriented or otherwise.

I finished the book in about three settings, and regularly picked up the phone to read especially laugh-inducing passages to my friends and mother.

Highly recommend, whatever stage of your life you're in. There's a lesson to be learned for everyone.

Rating :

More reviews...

1. ISBN13: 9780142000281
2. Condition: NEW
3. Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
4. Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Customer Review :

Quadruple Your Productivity and Enjoy a Little Life

Why You Should Read It: Time is the only real scarce resource. We are all battling for more of it. The only way to have more is to spend it wisely.


Review:

I just finished Getting Things Done. I know. I'm a little late to the game. It was a quick read and I loved the premise. There were no doubt some clear productivity "ah-ha's" as I read. I have spent a lot of time learning and developing my own productivity system over the years and I'm excited to implement a few more of Allan's nuggets. Most of the things he mentions are not totally novel but the package he puts them in catches an eye.

Top 6 Ways to Quadruple Productivity and Have a Little More Time to Enjoy Life:

1. "What is the next task that will get me toward my desired outcome?" This is the biggest point Allen drives home. Always ask this question upon completion of a meeting or task. This alone will put your productivity through the roof. Let this be the last time that you leave the site of a goal, plan or meeting without a clearly defined and scheduled next action item to make it a reality.

2. Plan Your Week. Spend at least a half hour or an hour at the beginning (or end) of each week taking stock of what you accomplished the prior week, what you didn't accomplish, what you learned and what your desired outcomes are for the week to come. Many people dive right into the week with no plan of what they want their week to look like. And then get frustrated when nothing gets done. Be intentional and get committed. Things will start to happen. Spend an hour sharpening the saw to makes the week's cutting all the easier. I have been doing this every week for years.

3. Schedule It. Things do not get done unless you schedule them. By definition in order for a task to be completed it must physically occupy some portion of your life. Lists have become so arbitrary. They get longer and longer and are rarely prioritized, leaving you overwhelmed when everything doesn't get checked off. Also, the average person drastically under estimates how long something will take (at least we're optimistic). This causes them to put 27 hours worth of work on one day's list. Reserving time on your calendar forces you to be honest with yourself and get completed only what is reasonable in the time you have available. Proper expectations are a huge part of getting things done.

4. Schedule A Buffer. We have now come to grips with the fact that everything takes longer than expected. Now except the fact that things always come up that we didn't plan. They take time and sometimes they have to happen right away. Schedule buffer time for these. I literally block off an hour or two each day that simply says "buffer time". It almost always gets filled up with something urgent and unexpected and when it doesn't, I have an hour of my life back-an amazing feeling. That's when it's time to get outside and have some fun (or do whatever you like to do with spare time-other than check email).

5. Give Yourself Strict and Short Deadlines. This is not contradictory to Schedule It. Yes, things take longer than expected, and they also will take up as much time as you have available. We call this Parkinson's Law. The time required to complete a project is directly proportional to the time you have available. In other words, if you have time to waste, you will waste it. You have a day to study for an exam. It takes a day. You have two weeks to study. It takes two weeks. Give yourself enough time to complete a task but not a moment more. Set these limits up in advance.

6. Don't Check Email First Thing in the Morning. If you haven't heard this before, you have not been listening. This is huge. No matter what you're doing, email will immediately throw you off and suck the time and energy out of your life. Get your most important things done in the first 2-3 hours of the day. Then check some email and a little Facebook. I know I do not need to convince you on merit of this. I just need to break you from your addiction.

7. Do Your Most Import Things First. This goes with the above. First thing in the morning (after a good workout and breakfast), since I already have a plan for the week, I know what's most important for the day. So I dive into those 2-3 tasks first. Often before even opening my computer or connecting to the internet, and definitely before checking email. You will feel mountains better about the rest of the day with your major items behind you. Then there's plenty of time to waste away on email.

8. Get a Good System to Keep Track of Your Life. Everyone does things differently and no system will be perfect for all of us. But there are some amazing tools out there for free or almost free to get you started. Whatever the cost, if it gets you organized and motivates you to get things done, it's worth the investment. I use a combination of the Tony Robbins Time of Your Life Planning System, 7 Habits and 4-Hour Work Week in conjunction with my iCal, Google Calendar, Things and Evernote, all synced to my iPhone for what I feel has become my own little work of art. Can't forget a good clean work space of your own and maybe some physical file cabinets either. It took a while for me to get the right system in place and its always changing, but it's empowering once you get it. Find some sexy productivity toys and have some fun.

These steps are easy and any one of them alone will dramatically transform the way you go about your moments, days, weeks and life. Take advantage of them and let me know what you do with all your free time!

If you liked this article, please Tweet about it or tell your friends about it on Facebook.

What have you found most useful to manage your life and create time for the things you really care about. Share them with us in the comments.

~Reading for Your Success


Other books and resources you might enjoy:

Parkinson's Law- an article
Things- Task management app for iPhone and Mac. I just started using it and love it. Designed perfectly for Getting Things Done
4-Hour Work Week
7 Habits of Highly Effective People
How to Get Control of Your Time and Your Life
The Art of Time(less)

Rating :

Roadmap for productivity...

David Allen has provided a very clear strategy for effectively managing ones busy, multi-faceted existence. I thought that this book would be useful in helping me organize my business projects. I've come to realize that it provided useful tools for managing all of my ideas about "things" I wanted to "get done" while integrating all of my goals personal and professional, current and foretasted. I have recommended it to many people.

Rating :

Excellent book

The book gives specific, doable ideas about how to increase productivity in a systematic way. I read it before moving into a new office and was able to use its ideas to set up my new space in a much more efficient way.

Rating :

Life changing -- if you're ready

If you implement even some of the methods in this book, your life will change for the better. It's very important, however, to be mentally prepared to take massive action and make structural changes BEFORE you start to read. I put off reading this book for over a year, and only dove in when I knew I was ready for a change. If you're in the frame of mind for a massive overhaul of your work and life organizational systems, this book is the perfect place to start. If you're not, you'll likely skim this book, think the author has great ideas, but fail to execute.

The message that resonated most to me was that we free up our creative energy by controlling the smaller details that overwhelm us.

Rating :

More reviews...

1. ISBN13: 9781401927097
2. Condition: NEW
3. Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

Editorial Review :

Customer Review :

Inspirational Short Read: Companion Book to Movie, Yet Self Sufficient

The Shift is a companion book for the movie with the same title, both of which are self-sufficient. Nonetheless, I recommend reading the book before seeing the movie, as it will help you grasp much of the significance. The book doesn't give away the plot of the movie, though it refers to it once in awhile.

Like the other 30-some books by Wayne Dyer, this one is filled with inspirational quotes from famous spiritual teachers and classical holy texts, personal stories, and parables. This one, however, is only 112 pages and can be read easily in a day or two. It can be read several times and you will still get something out of it.

The original title of the book and movie was "From Ambition to Meaning," and interestingly, there are only four chapters, each with one of these words. The first chapter, "From," discusses the void where we came from and how in the womb, we are doing nothing but being lived by "all creating energy that seems to do nothing, and at the same time leaves nothing undone." Wayne cites quantum physics to validate the nothingness from whence we came. We are reminded that everything in the material world is truly like what it came from. Ergo, we are truly spiritual beings having a temporary human experience. And "our real self is the loving observer of our sensory experiences." He leads us to the conclusion that "nonbeing and love are synonymous." We are given tools on how to get back to the Nothingness, such as meditation, feeling the oneness, and surrender. We are even challenged to give away one item a day, anything we do not use on a daily basis!

Before we realize that, however, nearly all of us get sucked into "Ambition," which is the title of chapter 2. Here we learn how our false self develops as we identify with the ego. This entails beliefs such as "Who I am is what I have, what I do, and what others think of me." This "somebody training" involves learning more lies such as "I am separate from everyone else, from what's missing in my life, and from God."

In chapter 3 ("To") we make the U-turn back to our "fromness." There comes a time in everyone's life when they see that the inauthentic self is a lie. This doesn't mean the loss of ambition, but rather that our drive is now directed toward a life based on meaning and purpose. Some signs that we may be ready include: the ego's "mantra of more" becomes less attractive; we find ourselves doing less; we shun the spotlight to work in the shadows; we believe in unity more than separateness; we begin to realize we're connected to Spirit; we begin to trust the wisdom that created us. Next, Wayne tells us what to expect and gives a 7-point summary of our U-turn. He describes four qualities of the shift from ambition to meaning: surprising, vivid, benevolent and enduring.

In the final chapter, "Meaning," Wayne tell us how he told his buddy Ram Dass many years ago, "All of my life I wanted to be somebody. Now I finally am somebody--but it isn't me." All the fame and wealth did not satisfy him and he didn't feel fulfilled till making the shift back to his authentic self. Wayne describes the four virtues that constitute our original nature: reverence for all life, natural sincerity, gentleness and supportiveness. "Today," Wayne declares, "my life is almost 100 percent devoted to service in one way or another. Each day begins with a prayer of `Thank you.'" He describes the three most important things to watch for during the shift: the shift from entitlement to humility; the shift from control to trust (in yourself, others and God); and the shift from attachment to letting go.

Great little book packed with inspiration and encouragement! With the tendency we are heading in for shorter books at smaller prices, this makes a really great gift to yourself or to someone who is over 30 and perhaps beginning to question life's meaning and his/her purpose.




Rating :

Add This to Your Must-Read List

Recently I received in the mail a free copy of "The Shift: Taking Your Life From Ambition to Meaning" by Dr. Wayne W. Dyer. I had responded to a Facebook query regarding individuals who were willing to review new books published by authors under the auspices of Hay House. As a metaphysical teacher and Law of Attraction disciple, I am a long-time fan of Louise Hay, and as such I am always interested in the works published through Hay House.

I recommend this book highly to anyone who desires real change and transformation in their life. I especially recommend this book to anyone who is addicted to "doing." If your doing results in feelings other than peace, contentment and happiness, then you probably are experiencing some level of stress on the emotional, mental and physical level, and you probably are looking for a way to change that.

This book can help you with that.

I received this book at the perfect time in my own awakening and transformation. As of the end of February, I officially stepped into the "to" phase of transformation (the book is divided into four phases ~ "From," "Ambition," "To," and "Meaning" ~ and the feelings of clarity, peace, relief and optimism that I experienced while reading Dr. Dyer's words, are indescribable.

Each of us comes from a place whose essence is pure "Being." Yet, we live in a world that over-values "doing" and under-values "being." This contrast can cause a lifetime of pain, struggle, and illness. Dr. Dyer's book characterizes this contrast through personal and anecdotal examples of relatable life situations. I was able to see myself in his words, to measure the choicepoints that I have experienced in my own life, and to measure my progress (to use a very "doing" term) in my own deliberate and conscious inner transformation.

In my opinion and my experience, this book illustrates beautifully how to get back to our Authentic selves, and as a result, we can do, be and have a life experience of our dreams.

I highly recommend this book. It is on my personal "Must Have" listed, and I have added it to my "Wisdom Tools" list on my web site ([...]).

Rating :